Spellslinger (Spellslinger #1)(14)

‘How did you get in here without me hearing you?’ I asked.

She steadied me and gave me a little wink. ‘Who can say? Maybe it was magic.’

‘I didn’t know Daroman could—’

Ferius sniggered. ‘You Jan’Tep. So reliant on your little spells that you can’t imagine getting through the day without them. You were distracted, kid, that’s all. I’ve been tapping on that window for the past five minutes, but you were so focused on listening to your parents through that big old door that you were oblivious to what was happening right behind you. A roof snake looking for a midnight snack would’ve made a meal of you by now.’

‘I nearly died from having my own sister hit me with a sword spell,’ I said, irritated. ‘I’m not exactly at my best. What time is it anyway?’

She shrugged. ‘I don’t pay much attention to clocks, but I’d guess I left you here around four hours ago.’

‘I’ve been unconscious for four hours?’

‘Probably longer than that, seeing as how I had to spend forever explaining to your mom how I revived you.’ Ferius shook her head. ‘And the woman calls herself a healer? Anyway, your dad had a bunch of questions, your sister had a bunch of excuses – but no one offered me anything to drink. So I left and spent the next couple of hours discovering that nothing remotely resembling a saloon stays open after midnight in this hick little town of yours. Thought I may as well come back and check on you.’

It struck me as a little odd that a Daroman cartographer – not that I believed that’s what she really was – would go to the trouble. Maybe she was hoping to get paid for saving my life.

I walked carefully back to the door to see if I could hear any more of what was happening on the other side. My parents were still arguing, though not loud enough for me to make out anything but the occasional word like ‘weakness’ and ‘flaw’ and, of course, my name.

Shame and exhaustion drove me back to sit down on the settee. Ferius took a seat next to me and reached into the pocket of her waistcoat to pull out a short, stubby smoking reed. ‘I don’t think I like your family, kid.’

Despite the fact that I’d be a corpse right now if it weren’t for her, it irked me that this woman thought she could come into my family’s house and pass judgment on us. ‘I suppose your family is so much better?’

‘Well, my family’s all dead,’ she said, lighting the reed with a match and taking a puff from it. ‘So they’re not nearly as noisy.’

A quiet knock at the door startled me. Abydos, our steward, entered the room with a tray. The aroma of freshly baked bread and poppy-seed cheese filled the room and tugged at me, helped along by the sharply sweet scent of mulled pomegranate juice. When Abydos caught sight of Ferius he stiffened. ‘I see you’ve returned, Lady Ferius.’

‘I’m no lady, but yeah, I’m back.’

Abydos set the tray down on the table in front of me. ‘I wasn’t sure when you last ate, Master Kellen.’ His eyes flicked from me to Ferius and back again.

‘Oh, relax, Aby,’ she said, laughing. ‘You look as if you’re trying to decide whether I’m here to kill the kid or seduce him.’

‘And which is it?’ he asked.

‘Abydos!’ I said, my voice rising. ‘This woman is a guest in our house. You will—’

‘Don’t worry about it, Aby,’ Ferius interrupted, casting me an angry sideways glance. ‘Neither murder nor seduction’s in the cards today.’

‘Well then, that’s all to the good. I’ll leave you to …’ The steward gave a quick nod to me, then left.

I was voraciously hungry and halfway through the bread and cheese when I saw the curious expression on Ferius’s face as she looked towards the door. ‘What is it?’ I asked. ‘Abydos didn’t mean to be rude. He’s just protective of me.’

‘He looks a lot like your father,’ she commented.

‘Oh, that. He’s my father’s brother,’ I explained, taking another bite of bread before washing it down with some pomegranate juice.

‘You mean he’s your uncle.’

‘I … technically, yes.’

‘And you talk to your uncle like a servant?’

‘He’s Sha’Tep,’ I said, though I was fairly sure she knew that already. The look in her eyes made me feel small. ‘He’s well treated, you know. Some Sha’Tep work in the mines or are sent to serve other households. Most of them live in the slums at the edge of town. Abydos lives here, with us. My father treats him like family.’

Ferius took a puff from her smoking reed. ‘That’s decent of you.’

She’d said it as if it was a joke but I felt guilty anyway, so I changed the subject. ‘Were you really just pretending to have a weapon before?’

‘Weapon?’

I pointed to her waistcoat. ‘When Ra’meth was—’

‘Oh, that.’ Ferius reached a hand into her waistcoat and pulled out a small stack of rectangular paper-thin boards, each one about the size of one of her hands. Gambling is forbidden among the Jan’Tep so it took me a moment to realise what she was holding.

‘Playing cards?’ I asked, dumbfounded. ‘You threatened the leader of my clan’s council of mages with nothing but a deck of cards?’